In the beginning of the New Year of the Rat, Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) held a spring luncheon in Hong Kong today (29 February), to thank the travel trade, business partners and media friends for their support in promoting Macau tourism.

Director of MGTO, Mr. João Manuel Costa Antunes, and Deputy Director, Ms. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, led the MGTO delegation to welcome over 200 guests at Conrad Hong Kong Hotel. A number of representatives from local counterparts also joined the luncheon.

During his welcome speech, Mr. Antunes expressed his gratitude to the HK travel and media sector for bringing another fruitful year to Macau in 2007, with visitor arrivals reaching an all-time record of over 27 million, representing a surge of 22.7% over 2006. Hong Kong remained the second largest source market with a remarkable year-on-year increase of 17%, totaling 8.17 million visitor arrivals.

Stepping into the New Year, MGTO has set a series of marketing strategies and will continue to promote Macau tourism by employing the slogan "Macau: a World of Difference, the Difference is Macau" (繽紛世界，澳門就是與別不同) and the theme "Experience Macau!" (感受澳門！) to worldwide visitors, inviting them to see, feel, hear, touch and taste the difference of Macau. Strategies include (1) promoting refined tourism products and business tourism; (2) consolidating major markets and exploring new combination of international markets; (3) innovating diversified promotional models and to prioritize tourists' personal experience; (4) optimizing the quality of public facilities and tourism services.

MGTO also strives to further develop business tourism by employing new strategies and marketing research to support the industry, creating planner guides and client management systems database, assisting related entities to organize MICE events, as well as providing training for the related sectors. Moreover, Macau Business Tourism Centre of MGTO provides industry with up-to-date market information, market analysis, industry support, research, training, bidding and event/special projects. Last year, it supported 90 MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition) events and around 185,000 MICE participants.

To align with MGTO's goal to attract a diversified range of visitors, the Hong Kong Representative office of MGTO will continue to step up its marketing effort including a large-scale consumer campaign this year to promote the dynamic Macau. At the same time, the Hong Kong office will also initiate an array of promotional activities, including product presentations and luncheons, thematic familiarization tours, seminars and workshops, road show, trade visits and industry support, among others, to maintain the vibrancy between MGTO, the travel trade partners and media friends.